Disasters - a growing problem around the world.It's a fact - disasters are on the rise around the world. According to one estimate, the 1990s saw a tripling of disasters and a nine-fold increase in economic costs when compared with the 1960s. Climate change,earthquake,floods,storm increasing concentrations of people in vulnerable areas, and political and economic instability are all contributing factors.
The challenge is - how do we deal with this growing dilemma?

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

Chennai/Guntur:Last year, Swathi Paruchuri landed her dream job as assistant systems engineer in TCS, Bangalore. In a couple of months, the 24-year-old from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh was getting married to a close friend. On Thursday morning, she died in the twin bomb blasts that rocked the Bangalore-Guwahati Express in Chennai central station.

Swathi wasn't even meant to be on the train—or in the berth. She procured a tatkal ticket at the last minute and then swapped her berth with another passenger so that she could sleep on a berth next to her friend and coleague Rajitha, who was also on the train. Swathi died, Rajitha survived. Swathi's mother Kamakshi Devi fell unconscious after hearing the tragic news at their Guntur home. Sources said Swathi had initially tried to book a ticket in Prasanthi Express, which is a direct train from Bangalore to Guntur, and was looking forward to meeting her parents after four months. But in a last-minute change of plan, she took Guwahati Express though it does not go to Guntur. She had planned to get down in Vijayawada and take a bus to her hometown. According to her friends, Swathi was planning to settle down and was heading home to discuss her marriage. "She was really excited about this trip," said a friend from Sai PG Centre in east Bangalore where she lived. Bombs meant to go off near Modi rally? T amil Nadu police suspect the involvement of selfstyled jihadi and Al Umma operative Abubaker Siddiqui and his associates 'Police' Fakruddin, Panna Ismail and Bilal Malik, all under arrest for attempts to target BJP leaders. "We suspect that the bombs were meant to go off in Andhra since the train was headed from Chennai to Nellore, Guntur, and Vizag. Narendra Modi was to address rallies in Nellore," a cop said. A timer device and a pipe bomb were found.P12Swathi was full of life, saw beauty in every frame of life: Uncle Chennai/Guntur: Swathi Paruchuri, who was killed in the Chennai train blast on Thursday, was traveling in the S-5 coach which bore the brunt of the explosion. Her mother Kamakshi Devi is a lecturer in Guntur's Government Women's Polytechnic College and her father Ramakrishna a farmer. Swathi's younger brother Pradyumna is pursuing aeronautical engineering in IITMumbai.Swathi's uncle remembered his niece as "a very friendly person who was always full of life". "She had a keen interest in photography. At any moment, Swathi would take out the camera and start clicking pictures. She would often say there is beauty in every frame of life," he said. 'Hold on, pain ends' was Swathi Paruchuri's post on Facebook, describing 'hope'. But sometimes even hope lets you down.